iCloud lets you move all those little details of everyday digital life into one convenient location, making it accessible on all your Mac or PC computers, and iOS devices. This article will show you how to make the most of your iCloud subscription.

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Steps

Part 1 of 4: Setting Up iCloud on your Mac

1

Get the latest OS available for your Mac. iCloud requires at least OS X v 10.7.4. If you need to upgrade, log into the Mac App Store and download it.

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2

Turn on iCloud. From the Apple menu, choose "System Preferences," then click on iCloud.

Enter your Apple ID and password, then in the control panel check off the apps you want to use with iCloud.

3

Enable Photo Stream. With iCloud, your photos are instantly available across all your iCloud-enabled devices using Photo Stream.

In iPhoto and Aperture, click on Photo Stream in the left hand column, and then click "Turn On Photo Stream"

4

Enable automatic downloads from iTunes. With this enabled, any apps, music, and books you purchase on one device will be available on all applicable devices simultaneously.

Purchase an app on your iPad, and if it's a universal app, it will load on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch simultaneously. Macintosh apps are not shared on iOS devices.

Purchase an album or book on iTunes, and it will be available on all devices simultaneously.[1]

Part 2 of 4: Setting Up iCloud on your PC

1

Set up your other devices. Before downloading and installing iCloud for your PC, Apple recommends your other iCloud-enabled devices be set up first.[2]

Turn on iCloud. Launch iCloud Control Panel from the Windows Start menu. Enter your Apple ID and password, then check off the iCloud services you want to enable.

Mail, Contacts, Calendars, & Tasks can be used with either iCloud.com or with Outlook 2007 and later.

4

Enable automatic downloads from iTunes. Select iTunes Preferences, and in the Store tab, enable automatic downloads. With this enabled, any apps, music, and books you purchase on one device will be available on all iCloud-enabled devices simultaneously.

Part 3 of 4: Setting Up iCloud On Your iOS Devices

1

Install the latest iOS software. iCloud requires iOS 5 at a minimum, and for all current features to function, recommends iOS 6.

2

Turn on iCloud. New or newly updated iOS devices will prompt you to set up iCloud. Enter your Apple ID and password, then select "Use iCloud" in the Set Up screen.

3

Customize iCloud. Access the iCloud control panel by tapping Settings, then tapping iCloud in the Settings control panel.

Tap the On/Off switches for each service you want to enable through iCloud.

In the Photo Stream control panel, use the On/Off buttons to use Photo Stream which shares new photos with all your iCloud-enabled devices, and/or Shared Photo Streams which allows you to instantly share photos with other people, or subscribe to photo streams shared by your friends.

In the Documents & Data control panel, use the On/Off buttons to permit apps to store data in iCloud, and to enable the use of cellular networks to transfer documents to iCloud when not connected to a wireless network.

Use Storage & Backup to manage your iCloud storage—whether the free 5GB storage, or through one of their paid storage plans—and enabling iCloud backup on your device.

Part 4 of 4: Using iCloud Services

1

Set up your email. iCloud comes with a free iCloud.com email address that instantly updates across all iCloud-enabled devices, and includes web mail at iCloud.com.

2

Open Settings on your iOS device. Tap the Settings icon, then from the Settings control panel, tap the "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" button to review your settings.

3

Add an iCloud account. In the Accounts section at the top of the Mail, Contacts, Calendars control panel, tap Add Account…

4

Select iCloud. There are a number of services you can subscribe to, so that you can get your mail from any of your email addresses. To set up a new iCloud email address, tap the iCloud button at the top of the list.

Note: to retrieve mail from an existing account, tap that service, then enter you name, email address, password, and a description of the account, then click "Next." After the account has been verified, you can enable various components including mail, contacts, calendars, and more. Click "Save," and you're done.

5

Create a new iCloud account. At the bottom of the iCloud control panel, tap "Get a Free Apple ID." Use the scroll at the bottom to enter your birthday, then tap the Next button at the top right of the screen.

Create your email address. Enter a username. It will use @icloud.com. You will be prompted to confirm this address. It cannot be changed once it's created. Click "Create" to create your new Apple ID/email address.

7

Access your email. Navigate to http://www.icloud.com, and click on the Mail icon. Your account will reflect any changes you made on any of your other iCloud-enabled devices. Whether you have added or delete accounts, created new folders, or read your email on another device, your actions will be reflected on icloud.com

8

Share your contacts. Enable Contacts in the iCloud control panel by setting the On/Off toggle switch to On. Any contacts you add through iCloud-enabled devices will automatically be pushed to all iCloud-enabled devices.

9

Set up your Contacts preferences. In the Mail, Contacts, Calendars control panel you can make the following settings:

Sort Order: sorts your contacts by their first or last names.

Display Order: sorts your contacts by first or last names. Use in conjunction with Sort Order so that your contacts are sorted by last name and then first name, so that Zilla Adams will always sort before Aaron Zyzki, and Brion James will sort before Jesse James.

My Info: Set which contact in your address book is you.

Default Account: Determines which account to use for your contacts.

10

Share your calendars. Enable Calendars in the iCloud control panel by setting the On/Off toggle switch to On. Any appointments or changes you make through iCloud-enabled devices will automatically be pushed to all iCloud-enabled devices.

11

Set up your Calendar preferences. In the Mail, Contacts, Calendars control panel you can make the following settings:

New Invitation Alerts: toggle notification of new appointment invitations on or off.

Time Zone Support: Enabling Time Zone Support means that events set in a time zone other than yours will show as being at the time in the time zone for that calendar. For example, if you have a calendar for your Paris division, and you live in Chicago, events will show in Paris time. When Time Zone Support is toggled off, all events will show in Chicago time (or the time zone of your current location).

Sync: lets you sync events from 2 weeks back up to all events. The further back you sync, the more memory you will use for things past.

Default Alert Times: lets you create a preset reminder alert for Birthdays, Events, and All-Day Events. When you create a new event in one of those categories, a reminder alert will be set based on the time of the new event.

Default Calendar: when you create a new calendar event, it will automatically be assigned this calendar category. Set this for the category you use most.

Shared Calendar Alerts: this is an on/off toggle. When on, you will be notified when events on shared calendars are created, modified, or deleted.

12

Use Notes and Reminders. As with other iCloud services, Notes and Reminders are automatically in sync on all your iCloud-enabled devices.

13

Use bookmarks. If you're browsing the web on your iPad on your morning commute, and bookmark a site, that site will be waiting in your bookmarks that evening when you sit down in front of your computer. It will actually be available immediately—so if you see something you think your significant other might like, bookmark it, send them a quick email, and they can hop on the computer and see it instantly!

On iOS devices, open tabs will be shared automatically. If you're browsing Facebook on your phone, that tab will be available on your iPad at the same time.

14

Access iWork documents. With iCloud, you can store and access Numbers, Pages, and Keynote documents automatically.

15

Find your iPhone. Or iPad. Or iPod Touch. Or laptop. With iCloud, all your devices are quickly located, and displayed on a map. If only finding your car keys was so easy!

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Tips

Use your free iCloud email account to set up a dummy account to use when you must give out an email address, but are concerned about possible spam.

Take advantage of the free 5GB of iCloud storage to back up important files on your iCloud-enabled devices.

Warnings

Combining iCloud information and information on your iCloud-enabled device may result in duplicate information, especially in Contacts and Calendars. For best results, move everything to iCloud, leaving nothing "native" to a particular device.

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